Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are commonplace in user/computer communication. Some examples of GUIs are Microsoft Windows.TM. and Apple Macintosh.RTM.. In these GUIs, icons represent software applications or other computer functionality. The principal aim of a GUI is to allow a human user to easily manipulate the computer to perform desired tasks. Although the use of icons to represent software applications is widely accepted and was a significant advance over command-based interfaces such as MS-DOS.RTM., it is apparent that many novice or casual users of computers are still intimidated by the computer. It has been found that computer users desire a computer GUI that emulates as much as possible a real-life analog. This is achieved to some extent in present day GUIs by the use of "file cabinet" icons in the Microsoft Windows.TM. or Apple Macintosh.RTM..
With the advent of object linking and embedding (OLE 2.0.TM.), GUIs have the potential to be more complex. OLE 2.0.TM. is a programming tool from Microsoft, Inc. that defines a standard model for creating software objects and also for communicating between software objects. OLE 2.0.TM. allows a user to drag an object from one application (server) and drop it into another application (OLE container). For example, a user can drag an OLE Paintbrush picture (server) into an OLE Excel.TM. program (container). For more information on OLE 2.0.TM., the reader is invited to refer to Inside OLE 2.0, Microsoft Press (1994).
However, in OLE 2.0.TM., communication between two containers is limited to extracting specific data via a clipboard. For example, if a user drags data from an OLE container and places it in another OLE container, only the data is moved. This is comparable to the Cut and Paste operations in standard word processors. This does not allow for the dragging of an entire software application from one container to another container.
Also in OLE 2.0.TM., the user has the ability to designate the contents of the container, but a user cannot manipulate the appearance of the container on the screen. Some designers have allowed for minor manipulation of the tabs, but the prior art does not have the capability of changing the container, and in the case of a notebook-type container, change the binder and tab style and location as well as the paper's texture, of the notebook.